Cervezas Nacionales de Honduras – Honduran Beers

Honduran Beers: Barena, Salva Vida, Imperial and Port Royal

I happened to go to Honduras during the second week in April for business. But when my co worker and I had free time we mostly spent it with our Honduran governmental counterparts, who were extraordinarily hospitable and respectful and I had the pleasure of doing some tasting of the four national beers of their lovely county. I spent the majority of my time in the southern area of the country after flying into Tegucigalpa. We stayed and visited in San Lorenzo and Choluteca, beautiful places! The four Honduran beers are Barena, Salva Vida, Imperial and Port Royal.

This Honduran website in Spanish gives a run down of the four beers and the brewing history in their country. Salva vida is the oldest of the four, founded in 1916 then comes Imperial, Port Royal and finally Barena is 2004. After reading the website, it is clear that these four national beers are all brewed by the same brewery in Honduras: Cerveceria Hondurena. Sux especially since the brewery is owned by Coca Cola. Well with that said all four Honduran beers are like American light domestics. From the pix you can see that they are all golden clear and have if any a foamy white head. The only one of the four that is darker is Imperial. It’s taste is also a little stronger than the rest like a heavy amber would be compared to a pilsner. The only one of the four that is not a pilsner is the lager Salva Vida. Nonetheless these beers are equivalent to domestics from the US in taste and appearance. Given that domestics aren’t really reviewed here, I have to say that the beer I preferred of the four is Port Royal. Granted it was like choosing b/w Coors Light, Budweiser, Bud Light and other cheap domestics but I can honestly report that Port Royal was the tastiest, at least to this hophead, beer that I tasted. Salud!

About The Author

Greetings from Portland, Oregon. My name is J. and I love to drink beer (I have the belly to prove it too!). I am the only West Coast blogger on this wonderful site. I am also by no means a pundit in the art of tasting and writing about good beer but just a regular dude who has grown to love craft and micro beer especially Oregon and West Coast beers and now I have the opportunity to blog about my likes and dislikes to anyone who wants to read my rants and raves. Portland is filled with good breweries and so is the rest of Oregon and the left coast. As I’ve grown older my taste preferences have also grown from boring and inexpensive domestics to tasty, calorie filled and 'spendy' micro adult beverages. I prefer India Pale Ales (IPAs) along with Amber Ales but any beer that makes my palate happy I'll bottoms up the son of a gun. Here’s one of my favorite quotes: “A fine beer may be judged with only one sip, but it’s better to be thoroughly sure.” Cheers! 04/19/12
At the moment my favorite brews are/come from:
Hood River, Oregon's Full Sail Brewery (IPA)
Escondido, California's Stone Brewery (IPA)
Eugene, Oregon's Ninkasi Brewery (TG IPA)
Honorable mention:
Lahaina, Maui’s Maui Brewing Co. (Hi.P.Hay IPA)